Gasco Marine is driving a bold transformation in Nigeria’s energy landscape, leading the charge in the adoption of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) as a cleaner, more sustainable alternative to traditional fuels.
Segun Ogunwumi, the managing director in this interview with Josephine Okojie, spoke on the opportunities across the CNG value chain and how his organisation is impacting the industry.
How does Gasco Marine envision the role of CNG in Nigeria’s energy future?
CNG will undoubtedly be the primary fuel for industry and transportation, moreso, in light of Nigeria’s drive towards the acceleration of mobility-CNG adoption and the displacement of fossil fuels in Nigeria’s energy mix.
Having collectively established that any fuel to be considered as part of Nigeria’s energy future must be clean and environmentally sustainable, it is apparent that CNG, being a cleaner alternative to fossil fuels such as diesel and petrol, is at the core of Nigeria’s energy transition.
Beyond the environmental benefits of its adoption, CNG has immense economic benefits, as the exploration of Nigeria’s natural gas reserves through increased natural gas production and distribution has the potential to significantly reduce Nigeria’s dependence on the importation of refined fuels and promote the stimulation of the local economy.
Can you outline your organisation’s involvement in the various stages of the CNG value chain, from gas sourcing and processing to infrastructure development and fuel distribution?
Gasco Marine is currently involved in the midstream and downstream sectors of the gas value chain. We currently operate a 216,000 SCM/D-capacity(7.5MMSCF/D) CNG mother station located in Abeokuta, where an average of 60,000SCM of natural gas is compressed daily. This compressed gas is further loaded into our fleet of CNG tube skids for onward distribution to our daughter station located across the South-West and North-West regions of Nigeria.
We also provide refueling services where we supply mobility CNG to Natural Gas Vehicles (NGV) from our mother station. Currently, we refuel an average of 50 trucks per day, including our own NGV fleet.
This number is a testament of the accelerated adoption of CNG, not just for production activities but also as transportation fuel, and we are primed to be the leading supporter of haulage firms and NGV fleet managers, in furtherance of the strategic initiatives for cleaner transportation fuel.
How does your organisation ensure the quality and safety of its CNG products and services?
In addition to leveraging our proximity to the NGML City gate, which guarantees us impeccable gas quality, our state-of-the-art PRMS is equipped with an inlet filter and a discharge filter which further guarantees the absence of impurities, as well as a gas dryer which ensures the absence of moisture in the gas, preventing contamination.
Beyond the quality of our product, the safety of our gas delivery operations is paramount. Our fleet of CNG tube skids are specially designed and rated to safely transport gas products. Each cylinder is equipped with safety burst discs, to prevent accidents.
Our logistics and operations personnel are also regularly trained by relevant safety agencies and the use of PPE while handling and transporting gas, as well as strict adherence to our Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and Journey Management Plans are non-negotiable aspects of our operations.
What are the challenges in expanding CNG infrastructure and adoption in Nigeria, and how is the company addressing them?
The challenge of infrastructure development is perhaps a universal one in the natural gas industry. This is a function of several factors, including limited access to funding and investment. CNG infrastructure development is typically capital intensive and securing funding can be difficult due to the widespread perception of the high-risk profile of the sector, being that it is highly influenced by foreign exchange and related factors.
Beyond the enormous capital outlay, there is also several challenges such as the strong competition from alternative fuels, CNG supply chain distribution challenges, the high cost of vehicle conversion (for Autogas adoption), as well as regulatory challenges and inconsistent policy frameworks.
Notwithstanding the above, we are exploring avenues to reduce the impact of these challenges. To advance CNG distribution, we are investing in additional CNG distribution infrastructure which should be fully operational in February 2025.
This will improve our capacity to distribute even more CNG volumes. Additionally, we are liaising with relevant industry stakeholders, to collectively address some of the constraints faced by the natural gas sector.
What are the opportunities for growth and expansion in the Nigerian CNG market?
Certainly, there is still a long way to go in terms of getting CNG to every nook and cranny of Nigeria. This, in itself, is an opportunity for the utilization of Nigeria’s huge gas reserves, which will ultimately promote the local economy by reducing our dependence on imported refined fuels.
It is also common knowledge that logistics is a major aspect of commerce and the economy. As such, any development that positively impacts the movement of goods and people holds immense potential for economic advancement. CNG for mobility is a major game changer and the acceleration of its adoption must be pursued.
Beyond its environmental benefits, it could also have cost-saving benefits on transportation, which would in turn impact the price point of commodities.
The place of public-private partnerships also cannot be overemphasised. The government must be willing to partner with gas companies, both financially and for policy development.
There is a lot of potential that amalgamating the strengths of the private and public sector holds, and it is by exploring PPPs that these potentials can truly be unlocked.
What would you say has been the impact of Gasco Marine’s CNG operations on job creation in Nigeria?
Being a 100 percent indigenous company, Gasco Marine has always been a driver of local content development. To begin with, our mother station was wholly built by in-house engineers and local contractors.
Our human resource capital also comprises indigenous talents who have been extensively trained and equipped with adequate know-how, beyond what is generally obtainable today, in this emerging sector.
The Gasco Team is currently made up of 100 individuals, whose expertise span across various fields, and this number is anticipated to appreciably increase, as we expand our operations and undertake new projects.
How is your organisation collaborating with the Nigerian government and other stakeholders to promote the adoption of CNG?
We are fully involved in the various initiatives championed by the federal government, under the leadership of Bola Tinubu. The Pi-CNG, for instance, is one that we are actively supportive of, hence, our renewed commitment towards establishing CNG as the primary fuel for mobility in Nigeria.
Our support for CNG-advancing policy development is also evidenced in our collaboration and engagement with other relevant stakeholders such as the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), the Nigerian Gas Association (NGA) and the Association of Local Distributors of Gas (ALDG), amongst others. One thing is certain, Gasco Marine will always be found at the forefront of any gas-centric initiative.
What are Gasco Marine’s long-term plans for its CNG operations in Nigeria?
Our long-term strategic plan is to establish our footprint in all the six geopolitical zones of the country. Barring the evident challenges of CNG distribution, we have successfully demonstrated that long distance CNG transportation is doable. Having established proof of concept with our CNG supply operations in Kano, which involves an average travel distance of 1260km per delivery.
Since the commencement of our northern operations in December 2023, we have maintained the highest form of safety standards, with zero incidents recorded. It is no longer news that, as a company, we keep our standards high and our goals audacious, consistently breaking industry-wide boundaries.
In the short to medium term, we are focused on expanding our Auto-CNG distribution operations and we will be launching a number of innovative solutions targeted at the transportation sector, in the near future.
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